Read Online Fatal Headwind by Leena Lehtolainen - Free Book Online Page B

We have to go. I need to be on Föglö by Thursday night.”
    “Where is Föglö?” I asked. I didn’t remember ever hearing of it before today.
    “In the eastern Åland Islands. That’s where I live, and I work at the library on Friday.”
    “I’m sorry, but you can’t leave yet. The sequence of events is still unclear enough that we have to interview everyone who was present.”
    “How long will that take? Will the police pay for a ferry ticket to Åland?”
    I was just about to say that I would have to ask the lieutenant, but then I realized that was me.
    “Yes, we will. And maybe it’ll be best for us to go to Espoo and handle the interviews at the police station.”
    The Åland police could have handled Katrina Sjöberg’s interview too, but I wanted to at least start the process. I turned to Mikke Sjöberg.
    “And you . . . I understand you were intending to leave the country for several months. You’re going to have to put that off for now.”
    “For how long?”
    “I can’t say yet. Best-case scenario is just a couple of days.”
    Mikke shrugged in a way that was hard to interpret.
    “Of course. There will have to be a funeral in any case,” he said in an indifferent tone.
    I started arranging transportation back to the mainland. Anne Merivaara and Katrina Sjöberg went with me in the police helicopter. I wanted to get Anne home as quickly as possible. We would have to interview her officially later, just like Jiri, who had just sat in the kitchen looking apathetic. Puustjärvi would travel with Jiri, Riikka, and Holma on the Merivaaras’ motorboat, and Koivu would go with Seija Saarela and Mikke on the Leanda .
    “Use the motor. It should be faster with this wind,” I said to Mikke before I climbed into the helicopter.
    “And what if I don’t have enough gas?” he said.
    “Hard to believe, since you were headed all the way to Africa,” I replied. Mikke snorted and then disappeared toward the shore while I boarded the chopper and tried to collect my thoughts. As the helicopter rose over the sea, I turned back to look at Rödskär Island. My last sight was Juha Merivaara’s body being carried on a stretcher toward the dock.

4

    We made the flight in silence. Anne Merivaara sat with her eyes closed and beads of sweat on her face, while Katrina Sjöberg stared down into the foggy abyss below.
    From the island I had called in to the department and asked Puupponen and Wang to be available so we could get started on the interviews as soon as we landed. In my mind I tried to list the questions, even though the turbulence made my brain feel like mush. As we reached the larger islands just offshore and the fog started to dissipate, Anne suddenly yelled into her microphone.
    “Juha always knew what to do. Last year when we found Harri, Juha knew exactly who to call and that we shouldn’t touch anything. And now Juha is gone . . .”
    Katrina Sjöberg and I glanced at each other, and that was when I realized it had been a mistake to separate Anne from her children. We would arrive significantly earlier than the motorboat, and Anne would go home alone. Someone would have to accompany her.
    As we banked sharply to the northeast, we flew over my house. We were low enough now that I could make out the rowan trees heavy with berries in the yard and remembered that Antti and I were going to pick them today and start making wine. Picking them in this rain wouldn’t have been a good idea anyway, though. Apparently Antti and Iida were on an outing in defiance of the weather, because the baby stroller wasn’t on the porch.
    Officer Anu Wang was waiting on the helicopter pad. I thought she would do a better job with Anne Merivaara than Lähde or Puupponen might. My opinion didn’t have anything to do with Anu’s gender but rather her sense for when to talk and when to stay silent. Koivu was another one with that skill. I asked Anu to take Anne Merivaara home and wait there until Jiri and Riikka